Purple Rain
by ButIllFlyALittleHigher
Summary: "Its illegal," Lolita whispered softly, "Its a law, we can't...we shouldn't be together..." Ares chuckled in her ear, his arms wrapping around her thin waist, pulling her back against his firm chest, causing Lolita to gulp. "You should know by now, babe, that I don't like following the rules..." - Rated M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

The tree tops swayed slightly, the gentle autumn breeze curling through the branches and leaves. Lolita Starkley sat below the largest tree, looking down at the grass surrounding her. She picked the green shards from the earth, examining each one closely before dropping it and picking another.

This was a normal thing for the four year old. To sit outside for hours upon hours and pick through the grass in her grandparents' backyard. She wasn't a social butterfly; she didn't have many friends outside of her older cousins so nature had come to fell the spot as her best friend.

But Lolita had a secret. She hadn't ever told her grandparents or cousins, and she wouldn't _dare_ tell her alcoholic father. No, this secret was between her and nature.

Whenever Lolita was happy or sad or even mad, flowers would appear. They came whenever she asked them to and she could make them do whatever she wanted, make them any color and any shape.

She didn't see anything wrong or even unnatural with her gift. She was only four; to her, the world was fair, people were kind, life was pretty good and there was no such thing as being weird.

So that's why Lolita giggled in happiness when the first flower that day began to bloom. It was a mix of bright orange and red - her favorite colors combined. The delicate petals, like the tree tops, swayed back and forth because of the wind.

Just as Lolita was planning on making another, a growl ripped through the air. She looked up, not scared but confused. Only a couple of yards away from her was what looked to be a huge dog. But it was mean looking, foaming at the mouth with red eyes.

Lolita whimpered slightly, trying to move away from the hound but her back met the firm, hollow wood of the tree. The beast growled again, walking closer to Lolita. She was honestly terrified, her tiny heart beating franatically against her ribcage. She whimpered again before stammered, "S-stay away, p-puppy. Stay, g-go home. Go h-home right n-now!"

But the hound only growled again and Lolita could have sworn she saw the monster smirk at his luck. And suddenly, the beast lunged forward towards Lolita, who threw her arms over her head, squeezed her eyes shut and let out tiny scream.

There was a sudden _swosh! _and then the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. But Lolita kept her eyes closed, still waiting for the hound to leap on her. "Little girl?" she heard a rough voice ask, "Little girl, you can open your eyes now. Its fine. The big bad wolf is gone."

Lolita's blue eyes fluttered open to see a grown man kneeling in front of her. He was defiantly bigger and older than her, looking to be in his early 20s and already having the form of a body builder. But all Lolita saw was: _scary man_.

She shivered a bit, eyes welling up with tears of fear, trying to get away from the _scary man_. "Oh no, kiddo, its okay," he said, moving closer to Lolita, opening his arms a bit, "Hey, don't cry, it'll be alright. I'm not going to hurt you, got it? You're safe."

Still wary, but just wanting to be held, Lolita moved towards the stranger and clung to him, tiny fists gripping his t-shirt tightly. The man's arms embraced her, and never in her life, had Lolita felt more safe or protected. "See?" he mumbled, "I'm not going to hurt you..."

After a few moments of him holding her, his strong arms loosed and he mumbled, "Now...go run along, kid. And try not to attract anymore hellhounds, okay? You're lucky the old man let me help this time, but you may not be as lucky next time." Lolita had so many questions for the strange man, like what was a hellhound? Why did it try to hurt her? Who was the old man? Why didn't he want the man to help her?

But she just simply nodded before looking the man in the eyes, which was made hard by the fact he was wearing sunglasses, and saying, "Thank you, mister."

The man's eyebrows furrowed as if he hadn't expected a thank you but he quickly coughed, "Uh, yeah, its no problem, kid." With his hand on the back collar of Lolita's shirt, he stood up, lifting the small girl up like a kitten.

He put her down before shooing Lolita, who obeyed and quickly ran towards her house. But not before turning around to see...not a trace of the man who had saved her.


	2. Chapter 2

~15 years later~

Her lungs burned, her legs ached, her head was spinning, everything hurt, and all she wanted to do was stop. But the faint roar behind her was a constant reminder to keep going. Her feet stomped loudly against the wet concrete and she couldn't stop panting or wheezing for air. But she forced herself to keep going.

Lolita cursed to herself for being a complete idiot and forgetting to bring her bow and arrows, as well as her knife. If she had them with her, she won't be in this position. No, the beast would have already been slayed and Lolita would have been on her merry way back to camp.

But no, of course not, because with her luck, she had thought she'd be safe. Why would a monster even want to chase after her? Lolita was a daughter of Persephone; the only thing thing she was good for was making flowers and talking to animals, _for gods' sake_.

Yet here she was, running through the dark, rainy streets of Manhatten with a Minotaur, the freaking Minotaur, chasing after her.

Lolita stopped for a minute, coughing and breathing deeply, her legs feeling like rubber. She was bent over, leaning against a brick wall. Go, she screamed at herself, Go!

But she couldn't will herself to move. It was like she was frozen, unable to run any more. The Minotaur howled again, the sound closer to her then before. And for a moment, a part of her was tempted to just stay there, to just let the Minotaur get her.

There was no chance of her getting to camp, she was too far away, so why even try? Lolita slumped against the wall, all of the fight leaving her in that moment. It was coming even closer, but she didn't move.

She squeezed her eyes closed, willing her body to relax and become pliant, just waiting for the monster to attack.

_Don't give up._

Lolita whipped around suddenly, her muscles groaning in pain but she looked around crazily. "W-who's there?"

_Doesn't matter. Run. Now._

"Not until you tell me who are you!"

The voice sighed inside her head. I'm an old friend. Now will you just run?

"Its not worth it," mumbled Lolita, a roar from the Minotaur making her wince, "Its...its almost here. I'm not going to make it."

_Yes, you will. I'll make sure you make it. Now, go!_

And for some reason, Lolita jumped up like she was shocked and soon she was running again, as fast as she could, the voice yelling at her to run faster.

But as she turned the corner, she came face to face with a tall, metal fence. "See!" she cried out, "I have no chance." It was all quiet in her head, and a few seconds later, she asked fearfully, "Uh, voice, sir...help, please. What do I d-"

As she turned, Lolita nearly whimpered as the Minotaur stood in front of her, letting out a roar as he charged at her. Lolita screamed, whipping around and trying to climb the fence, but the beast grabbed her.

Its rough hands dug into her skin, crushing her ribs and making her scream louder. She thrashed and thrashed, but there was no moving out of its grip. The Minotaur let out a sharp bark, as if it was laughing. Lolita continued screaming bloody murder, but it was beginning to become more and more weak.

She started blacking out, her vision fading and her breath catching as she began to hear the cracks of the bones breaking, the feeling of her lungs being crushed.

But suddenly, the monster let go and Lolita was falling, unconsciously expecting to go splat against the cold ground. She didn't though, as she fell ungently into a pair of firm and very hard arms.

"Its okay," She jumped when she heard the voice from inside her head, but gasped in pain, eyes blurry. She opened her mouth, but suddenly the only thing she could see was fire, pure flames, and the last thing she heard was "It'll be okay..."


End file.
